Free and open to the public, the presentation will be given by Randy Stoecker, professor of community and environmental sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Stoecker presents a social change model of campus-community collaboration that is thought-provoking and rooted in his own personal transformation over many years of working in the field of community engagement as a faculty collaborator and community organizer.

His most recent book, “Liberating Service Learning and the Rest of Higher Education Civic Engagement,” questions the prioritization and theoretical/philosophical underpinnings of the core concepts of service learning: learning, service, community and change. By “liberating” service learning, he suggests reversing the prioritization of the concepts, starting with change, then community, then service and then learning. In doing so, he clarifies the benefits and purpose of this work, arguing that it will create greater pedagogical and community impact.

His presentation is made possible by a grant funded by the Davis Education Foundation, established by Stanton and Elisabeth Davis after Mr. Davis’ retirement as chairman of Shaw’s Supermarkets.